Posted on 04/12/2007 8:59:57 PM PDT by PAUL REVERE TODAY
WASHINGTON, April 11 (UPI) -- The U.S. Army is struggling to convince recent West Point graduates to make the military their career. Recent graduates of the U.S. Military Academy are exiting active duty at the highest rate in more than three decades, the Boston Globe reported Wednesday. Many military specialists say repeated tours in Iraq are driving out some of the Army's best and brightest young officers.
Of the 903 officers who graduated from West Point in 2001, nearly 46 percent left the service in 2006. More than 54 percent of the 935 graduates in the class of 2000 had left active duty by this January, Army statistics showed.
In most years during the last three decades, between 10 percent and 30 percent of West Point graduates opted out after their mandatory five years of service, the newspaper reported.
Who cares. they served their obligation. Let them go. If the administration wants to wage war, then they need more troops to do it, and that costs money. don’t do it on the cheap and burn out the existing guys with repeated tours. These West Pointers see the writing on the wall. It will get worse unless we either ramp up the number of army (100,000 or so), or tell Iraq and Afghanistan its time to start ponying up. And those that stay, will make general.
Keep in mind that the classes of 2000 and 2001 started in 1996 and 1997 respectively, and those candidates who were actually honorable and interested in serving their country were possibly less likely to apply due to the CIC at the time. Thus, the candidate pool was tilted toward the "free education, five-and-out" contingent.
If my conjecture is correct, the situation will persist for the next few years, until the class of 2005 (started in the summer of 2001) hits the five-year point, and then the retention rate will start to come back up.
What does the military know that we don’t know? Why are anti-American illegal immigrants allowed to swarm over our borders? Why are West Point cadets refusing to make a career out of the Military? Do these three questions have any connection?
truth bump
The Army has been screwing certain of their Officers big time over the last few (likely many) years.
I am of the mind that Point men (and women) do not feel themselves to be the elite as they once did. Many West Pointers are by the way, political appointees, of a sort.
When those butter bars get into the units, they have to contend with some serious attitudes from Officers who are agenda driven.
The Army needs to do some serious house cleaning, on levels that most folks do not ordinarily think about.
I could write a lot about what the Junior Officer Corps is dealing with, and I have never even been one of them.
I just know a few who have been.
Most of the West Point cadets, could get into any school that they want. They want to be West Pointers.
It has little to do with the cost of the education that motivates them to go there, generally speaking.
yeah,
it’s called
decline of the roman empire, the sequel.
What about the Navy? What do the numbers at Annapolis say? Are the Marine officers leaving at the same rate? Where are they going? How many of those WP Grads are going into the civilian side of defense?
I think this is just the left finding another number they can twist to bash Bush and the war.
Great point. These were all Clinton appointees. The Army is better off without them. No doubt the ones who came in under our President will reverse the trend.
Well after being spit on, condemned, made fun of and defunded by Democrats, who can blame them?
As far as getting out when the commitment time is up.......I don’t know. I would think so if they don’t get paid a comparable salary. That’s the military. AND there is no point in making the military your career when they’re slowly taking away healthcare for when they retire.
Sounds like a typical BS article from the MSM
There is some real truth to that. I was a 4-year scholarship ROTC guy--same criteria as academy selection, but without the kiss-the-ass senatorial appointment. (There was no way I could get an appointment from Nuevo Mexico 'cuz my name doesn't end in -on, -es, or a vowel...)
I left in '95 as a Captain after my service obligation because the Army of the 90's sucked!
Along with my cohort, I was boarded to assess to active duty, then I was boarded to be retained on active duty after a year, I was boarded to 1LT! I was boarded again at 3 years to remain on active duty, then I was boarded to Captain and they only took the top 1/2!
The only time this happened before was after WWI. In the nineties, the Army was cut in half.
Of course as a junior officer working for a MAJ or CPT with a 'Russian Studies' or History Degree in 1995 was a nightmare, they would throw you under a bus to stay on active duty because there were no jobs for them 'on the outside'.
There is a huge gap in the army now at the senior major/LTC level. Nearly my entire year group left and the West Point grads of 2000 were left working for the guys who sucked more Clinton **** than Monica Lewinsky
Red hot economy...no surprise that these go-getters seek other opportunities.
Ping.
Thought you’d find this thread interesting.
Does anyone know what sex these people are?
Maybe war scared the ladies.
Meaning....?????
“Does anyone know what sex these people are?”
I don’t know the current numbers but by 1986 the attrition rate for the class of 1980 was 40% female to 25% male for West Point graduates, 23% to 11% for the Air Force Academy, 32% to 24% for Naval Academy graduates that went into the Navy, and 57% to 27% for the Annapolis grads that went into the Marine Corp.
I would like to see the updated numbers.
We do know that after combat started following 9/11, the enlistment rates for women and blacks plummeted for the military in general.
I wonder how many are actually Clinton era students who fought to get in for the education, prestige and couldn’t wait to get out to move on to something better?
I’d like to see some actual statistics too. Coming from the usual lamestream media, I can’t take their word for anyting.
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